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Topic: Deadwood juniper. (Read 6237 times)

This California juniper was dug in Jan. of 2006. I was digging with Harry Hirao and he took us to a place that was not used by clubs. Harry has a few places that he reserves for himself and friends. The recent picture I posted of the C. juniper in the three point display was also taken on this trip. It was a tree I tripped over while collecting this tree. I had dug this tree and was coming down the mountain and tripped over this runt of a juniper and sent my tree and tools flying half way down the hill.

I will show some pictures of the tree as a progression over the past three years. This was the front and back after being potted a year later.

Spring 2009 and the tree is doing quite well. I felt that the foliage is doing well and constant piching is gaining hold. I decide to leave the small branches near the bottom for future ideas but they are weak and do not grow nearly as fast as the top.

This picture was taken while building the shoji screens for the Toko-Kazari contest.

The work as done this year. The tree was dewired and the two small branches at the base were removed. It broke my heart to cut off 3/8 inch branches that were wired very well. In the end I think it will be better without them anyway.

The first right branch was thinned and the jin cleaned up. The foilage was dropped to continue the line of the branch beyond the jin but not cover it as it did before. Pinching is still done everyday as this tree sets buds daily. This tree gets humic acid weekly and I am sure that contributes to its bud growth. The acid will stop next month and 0-P-K will continue for two months and then back to the humates.

Great progression here. I prefer the tree without the lower branches/foliage. I think it shows the great trunk and deadwood much better without.

It was potted a year after collecting? Very impressive growth, it seems to have responded well. Have you found this to be typical? What/where was it grown in the year between collecting and potting?

Typical is a realitive term. My climate here is really desert like. Huge temps in the summer with little humidity and cold in winter not unlike a desert. What I don't have eher is the cool nights that desert climate will get. Especially the high desert like Mojave. When my daytime temp here starts to push over 106 the night time temp at midnight will still be nearly a hundred degrees. It may cool down to the low eighties by 6AM but will be well over that by 7AM.

So what this has to do with this juniper is this. When I dig one in January, it will stay dorment till possibly end of FEb. and then it will start to push. If all goes well, and it makes it past the die zone, it is well on it's way. I do not have to worry about it. It has made it and I can fertilize and water profusely. In the LA area they may not know if a tree is going to make it untill well into fall.

Just curious Al but do you think that the area where the tree was collected has anything to do with it's vigor ? I suspect that some of our native trees with large ranges would show very different reactions to collecting and then relocation. For example , except for the cool nights your climate is similar tto the area where they are collected so the adfjustment is easier as you explained. I understand these same junipers occur in parts of the LA area that is very different from the NE mojave and was wondering if these trees might do better in the LA area than trees from the more drastis climate of the NE Mojave.

I was wondering the same thing about RMJs. They occur over such a wide area they must have different reactions to local climates. They occur not very far from me and in some areas that don't really have a true winter ( they might go for a couple of seasons and not even see snow ) and receive very little rain. Other RMJs come from much colder areas and areas with much more rain. It seems that these seperate climates would produce trees with very different climatic requirements even though they are the same species.